Ava sighed at her suspicions being confirmed, absorbing the integumentary fibers of a Panther Crow griffin’s feathers, which she found in the recently deceased mayor’s office. The fine organic fibrous material was so small it was no surprise the RRGD didn’t find them, but Ava could smell the traces of the assassin’s presence, helping her reach her conclusion.

‘I thought Dox, Vaga and Luna killed the leaders of the Panther Crows? Then again, even if their leadership was eliminated, it stands that the Die Leucht would try to rebuild them.’ Ava mused with annoyance as she left the empty office, she looked around the receptionist lobby and moved towards an aquamarine mare wearing a topaz frock coat and a ruby/topaz checkered Tam o’ shanter. “Captain, the reason your guards have found no further evidence is because a Panther Crow was the assassin.”

“Oh, joy. So now we’ve gotta be on watch for INVISIBLE flying bastards.” The mare groused as she pinched her snout and clenched her emerald green eyes. “Thanks Inquisitor, we’ll add some mystics to our patrols with a focus on life detection magic. That aside there’s nothing much else we need from you here. I’ll get our security shored up, you go tell the Colonel what’s going on.”

“Will do Captain, try not to work yourself to death.” Ava stressed, and the tired mare sighed with a nod, dismissing Ava and the Shifter began speed walking down the stairs and halls to do just what the Captain requested. ‘Poor mare, with most of the ships on patrol she’s the ONLY Captain left in the city.’

{Standard procedure from what I remember of Equestrian military practice, at least naval. Only Captains are given command of individual ships, sergeants and lieutenants don’t have enough seniority or something, but Majors and higher are needed for administration. Save the Royal Captains, they have seniority over any other rank so long as it involves the capital. Maybe the Crystal Empire emulates the same structure?} Lyra mused, and Ava hummed with a nod, aside from the fact that outside the military strictly, the individual Guard Districts also operated slightly differently.

‘That might be true, but realize it seems the system is specialized by region. Emerald City used a civilian police system to help maintain order over so much space to cover, and thus far it seems Ruby Ridge uses military police as just an extension of the Empire’s Navy.’ Ava considered as she exited the city hall, which was the tallest building in the center of the city at it’s widest in the crescent, and she turned east towards the cove and the navy towers, taking in the barren city square with sadness.

{To think, even little colts and fillies were running around just yesterday.} Lyra commented soberly, and Ava sighed quietly.

‘All the more reason to help as much as we can. Defend this place from whatever Die Leucht and their puppets are doing. Do so elsewhere. Again, again. It seems unending.’ Ava mused with depression. ‘But if not us...then who? Who could step up for this job?’ Ava soberly considered as she reached the southern naval tower and climbed up to Colonel’s office.

“Ah, Inquisitor. Good to have you back already. There’s been...a development.” Half Sail stated, and Ava looked at the chair opposite him as she moved to the side of the office, and hummed at the sight of Jet standing aside the chair, within said chair was a seapony mare completely covered in white armor of various compositions from bone to quartz.

“I can see that. Back so soon Jet?” Ava asked the Merpony curiously, and he nodded.

“Fen continued down to Skully to find a surrogate for our foals, but I had to come back and deliver Patrol Captain Elspeth here.” Jet fidgeted on his new webbed claws, his long fishtail instinctively undulating to maintain his balance.

“Wow. You surface mares are quite somethin’. You make most of our stallions looks like wallflowers….” Elspeth giggled. “If more seaponies could see how well fit surfacers can be, they’d probably be clamorin’ for a vacation up here.” At hearing Elspeth say ‘well fit’ Ava blushed ruby at the intense compliment.

“W-well, I’m a special case. Not that ponies up here aren’t hot in general I mean. Ahem...what did you need to do here?” Ava asked, trying to keep things on track.

“Right, well, from what I’ve relayed to Half here, and what’s been related in turn, I can give a more thorough report. I’m willin’ to extend the aid of my patrol unit to Ruby Ridge as an act of goodwill. The aid was originally up in the air, but havin’ heard of the plight up here, and what we’ve discovered on our way here, we’ve decided to help the Colonel get his ships back.” Elspeth informed, only for Half to cough.

“Ahem, they’re the Admiral’s ships technically, and even then only by command. I’m just filling in.” Colonel Half Sail reminded the foreign patrol captain.

“Right, your government owns the craft instead of independant merchant houses, details, details.” Elspeth rolled her eyes. “But anyway, on our way here from Skully, we surfaced to get a bearin’ on where the shore is, and tried swimmin’ straight here….” Elspeth alluded and Ava decided to play along.

“But you got turned around by the Misdirection Barrier, of course.” Then, Ava noticed what she was hinting at. “But then...how did you get here? How did I and Fen get here?” Ava asked, having just realized Skully was so far out it went beyond the barrier, yet she and Fen came back just fine, no problems at all.

“Well, when she met up with us, I thought nothing of it too. Until she mentioned that to the Colonel.” Jet nodded.

“Indeed. When she brought this up, I asked how she came through. Apparently, the intuitive Captain here decided to test the effects of the barrier on varying water depths.” Half continued and gestured for the posturing armored seapony captain to continue without fanfare.

“The barrier has full effect within two fathoms depth of water. At two to four fathoms, it causes confusion and disorientation. At greater than four fathoms, it barely has any effect at all, and the deeper you go, the more negligible this so-called barrier gets.”

“So at just over 24 feet deep in water, the barrier is negated?” Ava blinked in surprise, but then again the fact the Crystal Heart cannot affect bodies of water much at all just meant the barrier, or at least this specific one, wasn’t up to the job of preventing underwater navigation.

“So, what is a foot? Uh...math...one sixth of a fathom? You surface ponies have really small distance measurements.” Elspeth commented, and Ava snorted.

“Just be glad Hooves aren’t the standard measurement, they’re only half a foot.” Ava teased, and Elspeth looked fidgety at the idea of using that small a measurement for something, which made her wonder how much she would balk at the idea of Inches or Centimeters. It was also telling how big their actual cities might be if they measured by fathoms as their standard, but then again the sheer amount of space available in the ocean along with complete freedom of motion in all directions probably contributed too.

“Back on topic.” Half urged. “This means that Captain Elspeth here and her unit of guards can go searching for our wayward ships, take a line down, and forcibly guide them through the barrier with an unyielding waypoint.” Half Sail informed, and Ava perked up at the idea of Ruby Ridge getting it’s navy back home and ready to defend for whatever siege Die Leucht was concocting.

“That’s great! That would put the odds so much in our favor. But tell me, why help? You could just have taken Jet prisoner, taken Fenelia back, and moved Skully away from here even. Why bother with this?” Ava asked curiously, and Elspeth shrugged.

“Eh, the fact Jet here was returnin’ Fenelia was proof of good faith enough. But he also inseminated her eggs, and is willin’ to stay with her? We may spawn by the dozen or so, but not many of us survive the dangers of the ocean. Usually, only two or three foals a rearin’ even survive to adulthood down there. Hearin’ what’s goin’ on, as well as the situation tells me to let this opportunity go would be a shame, a waste. To have a safe home, up here? In your cove, would allow us to stop fightin’ to survive at least a bit. Give new families a chance to grow.” Elspeth then looked up at jet. “Also, Fenelia’s waxin’ poetic on surface ponies got me interested.”

“Dear gog...I’ve discovered a species more obsessed with breeding than rabbits.” Ava groused playfully, inwardly beyond glad at this. “So then, let’s see if we can’t bring those ships home.”

“You’ll be joining them?” Half asked curiously, and Ava shrugged, unless he had something else for her, it was better than nothing. “Well, I do actually have something that could use your attention Inquisitor.”

“Again with the Inquisitor title, but yes, go on.” Ava nodded for him to continue, and he sifted through his scrolls for something.

“The Admiral has finally found the paperwork for the Relay. It was buried in three separate cabinets, in triplicate. The late mayor was a stickler for bureaucracy and had all three seperate files organized by their area of impact rather than by subject matter. Altogether it has given us the secret location of the Relay which was apparently going to be given to us soon since the Relay was finished. Hopefully with the Equestrian Inquisitor’s insight, we can find where these spies have sabotaged the system, maybe even stop the barrier entirely.” Half Sail stated as he handed Ava a scroll that simply unrolled into a map of the city with a general location in the north end of the city marked.

“Somewhere around the Northpoint Lighthouse. Why am I not surprised, since Southpoint’s so heavily residential.” Ava huffed, and looked to the two aquatic ponies. “Well then, even if I fix this before you find a single ship, at least you guys fetching them will bring them back much faster.”

“Aye, true that. Alright big fella, pick me up. We’ve got some babes in the reef to lead back home.” Elspeth ordered of Jet, who chuckled as he picked the armored mare up.

“I’d prefer you not mock my ponies to their faces, they may very well try to fish you out of the ocean rather than follow.” Half warned, before waving them all out.

[$]

‘Not near the lighthouse like I’d initially thought….’ Ava mused as she sniffed the air, having shifted her olfactory senses to that of a bloodhound to see if she could scent any griffins, and it led her through Northpoint to the ruins of the lighthouse, which was abandoned since Obviously it had no further value. Just what the devious bastards would want everyone to think. ‘It’s inside, but where?’

{Obviously not up. Only way to go is down.} Lyra helpfully considered, and Ava moved past the flimsy wooden barricade the RRGD put up to keep any curious lockdown breakers at bay. She followed her nose through the rubble to a suspiciously conveniently open downwards stairwell. {Whoever blew up this lighthouse knew what they were doing, leaving this stairwell intact, but the rest damaged enough to keep most ponies out.}

‘Knowing my luck, that poor schmuck I caught was just the patsy, and the real demolitionist was at this one.’ Ava growled internally as she descended the stairwell. She kept sniffing the air, her eyes set to draconic to try and be ready in case any invisible assailants were around. Thankfully nobody assaulted her on the stairs, and Ava made it into a huge basement that held the same sort of massive and complicated crystal structures as the Relay in Emerald City. “Bingo. Time to get to work, and at least this time, no rutting Goddess of Light to set me off like she did to Lumi.”

Ava took her Echo from its digital storage space, and began scanning the array, humming as she looked over the data. She couldn’t make heads or tails of the mathematical formula cascading down the viewscreen, but she knew back on Maui Homage was already processing this and she’d have her answer soon. {BEHIND!} Ava dropped to the floor and rolled just as Lyra let loose her warning, and she scoffed at letting her attention being taken away from her surroundings.

Her eyes had a faint thermal outline of her enemy now that they’d shown themselves trying to apparently stab her in the back, but they had instantly retreated into the latices of the Relay, the humming heat of the magic ruining her thermal vision’s ability to pick them out, and sadly the overpowering ozone scent of the magic resonance was also ruining her nose’s ability to suss them out as well. “Grrr! Fine then! I don’t need to fight you to do what I need to!”

{Good thing I was listening when you were focused on the Echo, I heard the knife as they made to stab.} Lyra was nervous and worried, never having been in a situation like this before, while Ava just shrugged it off, keeping her head on a pivot as she kept the Echo scanning. She took out Chiappa and flip-cocked it to ensure she had it loaded.

“Okay little rat. I’m going to find what’s corrupting the Relay, and I’m going to smash it. Even if you have Orichalcum, your only advantage is gone. I’d suggest you either surrender, or flee.” Ava broadcasted as she kept the Echo scanning, before she heard it report having finished diagnostics. “Well, that’s that then.” Ava declared and returned her Echo unit to its digitized form. “Am I talking to myself here?”

“Yes.” Ava jumped at hearing her own voice and jumped away from behind her, spinning to see another her wearing a loose black robe runed with silver to her shock. “Oh, what’s the word? Cat got your tongue?” The Not-Ava asked, before suddenly Shifting into a malformed mockery of her and leaping.

Ava just blasted the Not-Her’s head off, and watched it crumple to the floor as it’s head was splattered behind her. “Well...that was anticlimactic. Better tell the RRGD they’ve managed to copy my Shifter abilities….” Ava turned around, and screamed in agony and fear as a green blade erupted out of her stomach.

“Oh, well that’s not good.” The Die-Leucht Shifter commented, turning into a normal Panther Crow as she twisted the Orichalcum dagger in Ava’s back, making her cough up blood as her eyes sightlessly shook in pure pain. “I guess I’ll just have to stop you, won’t I?”

“H-how?” Ava gasped, futilely trying to pull away, only for the hen to move with her, keeping the dagger in. It was getting heavier, eating her magic as fast as her body produced it. Not allowing her to heal.

“Well you already figured it out. I’m one of the lucky ones, by-the-way. Most of us who were changed with your base form in mind ended up as dumb formless piles of flesh.” The hen hissed, and moved her free left arm to grab Ava’s chest with her talon, making her chuckle. “Because, seriously. As attractive as this form of yours is, it’s just unwieldy for combat or stealth.”

“F-fuck...you….” Ava weakly rasped, falling to her knees, the hen following her to kneel in her growing pool of blood. ‘No...not like this….’

“Hm, tempting. But I’m not about to-.” The hen was interrupted by a crossbow bolt stabbing through her eye, and the Shifter cawed in surprise as she was jolted by the impact, allowing Ava to pull free of the deadly dagger, gasping as her fairly pathetic magic reserves set to healing her.

“Get away from the Inquisitor.” Admiral Full Sail demanded from the foot of the stairs, two RRGD guards with him, both with crossbows aimed at the ready, Full Sail himself seemed to be unarmed. “I swear, Half needs to forward your activities to me before sending you off.”

“Damn it!” The hen complained as she yanked the bolt out and tossed it on the floor, her eye already fully healed. “I almost had the biggest thorn in our side removed forever, and you just had to be a Big Damn Hero!”

“Well, it’s kinda my job. Now are you going to come quietly? Or do I have to tell my colts to turn you into a pincushion?” Full asked as his guards both aimed slightly to the side and up of her at opposite angles, making sure they’d react to her trying to juke more quickly.

“That would do little more than annoy me. But regardless, nothing for it. Ta-ta.” Her robe turned the hen invisible, and the stallions fired, missing.

“Keep your knives ready lads, no knowing if she’s flown the coop or she’s just stalking the rafters.” Full strode forward with confidence to Ava, ignoring her blood getting on his hoofboots as he leaned down to offer a hand up. “Need help milady?” Ava nodded weakly and took his offered hand with gratitude, standing up as she wobbled and gathered herself.

“Thanks for the save...that dagger could kill Celestia or Luna even easier than me. I was dead until you showed up.” Ava informed as she slid Chiappa back up her sleeve. “That said, I’ve got what I needed here.”

“And that is?” Full asked, folding his arms behind his back as Ava took out her Echo, checking for Homage’s response.

“The interceptor corrupting the Relay is in….” Ava turned northwest and pointed. “That way. Anything of significance out that way? Within reasonable distance.”

“Hm...that’s...the direction of the old quarries if I remember my bearings. Where a lot of the ruby for the city came from in fact. At least for the walls before we had to resort to magically altered ruby rather than natural ruby. Perfect place to hide something.” Full Sail mused as he took her shoulder and started guiding her still weakened form towards the stairwell. “But for now, I may not know how your body works, but I’m willing to bet you at least need some food and rest after that.”

“Preferably. And some Love. Or Lust. Just nothing negative, darker emotions taste unpleasant.” Ava murmured, and Full Sail grumbled.

“Shape-shifting ponies, griffins, and seaponies. What happened to the days when the worst you had to worry about were dragons?” Full griped as he led the Equestrian Inquisitor up the stairs, while as the guards followed, the Shifter panther crow hen reappeared almost right next to where she’d been with a leer.

“Just great. Zerstöre is going to be squawking mad about this.” The hen grimaced, turning invisible and taking wing up the stairwell once the Admiral and Ava had already left the building and more guards were starting to pour in.

Author's Notes:

Finally got something done. For some frustrating reason, GDocs has crapped out on me, I've had to resort to Libre Office